Kerala Story Filmmakers Debate Victims, Love Jihad and Election Timing

One second, if it is like this then we cannot hear anything, what are we…

We will sit and ask.

Survivors will not be able to answer the question, they have come with…

Sir, you have mentioned Kerala by name,

so tell us what the story of Kerala is, what is the… The victims are from UP,

from Maharashtra, and from other states. The non- persons are from Kerala.

You had brought them at the time of Kerala Story 1.

Its video is still available on YouTube today.

Today we would have brought those same people back,

you are bringing those same people back.

So you will talk from both sides, this is not right.

No, no, that story is different, sir. How is the story different?

It is the same story.

And the video of the victims from Kerala is lying on YouTube, have you not seen it?

Kerala is a highly educated state, you should see that too. There are judges there,

even blind judges, ladies…

and you are focusing only on this…

Last time we showed you Kerala’s story.

Does all this happen only in Kerala? It happens all over the country.

Understood, sir. This is a pan- India story. Not related to Kerala, right?

No, no, it is related to Kerala also, and from Kerala how it is all over India.

When we created the story for the first time,

people said this is only Kerala’s story.

We wanted to show that this is not happening only in Kerala,

it is happening all over the country.

Sir, there was no victim from Kerala in this, right? We have not brought them here,

because last time— as Vipul ji just mentioned— last time we had brought 25

victims from Kerala.

Because of that we did not bring them this time. Sir, Kerala is number one

in education and health. Why are you insulting Kerala in the movie?

बिलकुल नहीं। मैंने किया है...

मैंने केरल की किसी भी पीड़िता के साथ कुछ नहीं किया है...

मैं आपसे एक सीधा और सरल सवाल पूछता हूँ। विधानसभा के फ़्लोर पर,

उस समय के मुख्यमंत्री ने एक रिपोर्ट पेश की थी... सर, अभी तो कई साल हो गए हैं...

वो अभी केरल में... लेकिन आपने जिन महिलाओं को पेश किया, वे उत्तर भारत, राजस्थान,

बिहार से थीं...

अगर आप अपने राज्य की एक समस्या के प्रति अंधे बने रहेंगे, जो कि एक बेहतरीन राज्य है,

तो आप उस राज्य को बर्बाद कर रहे हैं। ज़िम्मेदार आप हैं, हम नहीं। लेकिन आपने महिलाओं

को महाराष्ट्र, राजस्थान,

बिहार से पेश किया। तो फिर मलयाली महिलाएँ कहाँ हैं? सर, सुप्रीम कोर्ट में,

केंद्र ने ख़ुद यह दाखिल किया था कि लव जिहाद नहीं है। क्या कहा? सुप्रीम कोर्ट में,

केंद्र की रिपोर्ट यह थी कि लव जिहाद नहीं है। सर, यहाँ तीन पीड़िताएँ हैं जिनके

कोर्ट केसों

में लव जिहाद को स्थापित किया गया है। क्या आप सुप्रीम कोर्ट के ख़िलाफ़ हैं?

No, it's not about the Supreme Court. The court…

It is written in the court’s judgments,

it is written in the observations.

You talked about the Central Government, we talked about the court.

Love Jihad exists in one language… In the court’s language, there is no Love

Jihad anywhere. How much impact will

this film have on the Kerala elections? We do not contest elections,

we are filmmakers. We are filmmakers,

do not ask us political questions. Timing… the timing of the film release…

Okay, let me ask you a simple question. Let me answer his question.

There is an election in Bengal before Kerala. We knew that too.

I could have taken a story from Bengal. I could have taken a story from Assam.

If I were so worried about the election.

There was an election in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan last year.

So why would we take stories from there? Now you have to spice this up,

you go ahead, please add some masala. Your movie spread hate against Kerala.

Not at all. Sir, you do

not want to accept the problem there. It is one of the most beautiful states in

the country. I agree with that. When you fall sick, first you have to accept that

you are sick. Kamakhya sir… have you seen Anurag Kashyap’s

comment, sir? Vipul ji, what some people have called propaganda, called the film

propaganda… Prakash Raj and… was this the answer to them today,

what we have seen? Vipul ji… what people have said,

what Anurag ji and Prakash Raj have said that this is propaganda,

was this the answer to them today? Look, I believe that I do not want to

respond to any single person. We want to bring a problem before the country.

We feel that we have brought it with complete honesty. And on top of that,

there was an entire lobby that was actively questioning it,

this was the answer for them.

If even after hearing this answer today,

if this lobby or some people still do not want to accept this problem…

… then they really need to look into their conscience

and see whether they have even a little sensitivity for these victims or not.

That is all there is to it. Thank you very much.